dock at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) yesterday, looking very much like a champion.

His shirt splashed with champagne, the skipper of the Swan 38 was greeted by RBYC commodore Brian Billings and a group of wide-eyed school children from the Gilbert Institute, heralding the arrival of the recipient of the St.

David's Lighthouse Trophy, one of the most coveted prizes in sailing.

Smith sailed the 635-mile course from Newport to Bermuda in 95 hours, 20 minutes and 32 seconds -- on a corrected time of 53 hours, 46 minutes and 52 seconds -- to earn the trophy, given this year to the top sailboat in the Cruiser/Racing Division.

The native of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, is also the commodore of the Cruising Club of America, one of the sponsors of the Newport to Bermuda race.

"This is unbelievable,'' said a smiling Smith yesterday. "To be commodore and also to win the Lighthouse Trophy, well, it's almost like you died and went to heaven.'' The veteran sailor was participating in his 11th Newport to Bermuda race, and with the exception of a few second and third place finishes in his class, along with a fourth place finish in the fleet, this was undoubtedly his finest hour in the race.

"This is by far the top, we now have won every major ocean race,'' said Smith. "We won the Annapolis to Newport race and the Halifax race from Marblehead, but this is the one that counts. You spend your sailing life thinking maybe you have a chance for this.'' Smith reserved special praise for the seven members of his crew -- Turner Hansel, James Watson, Kaighn Smith, Jr., Robert Norton, Robert Watson, William Reed and Harry Madeira -- saying their experience was the key to the prize-winning performance.

"We added up the number of Bermuda races that the crew has been on and it amounts to 66 races so it shows what kind of experience counts,'' he said.

"Believe me, the crew is what makes this boat go. I very rarely touch the helm.'' It was the eighth Bermuda race for the 21-year-old Gaylark , one of 20 boats in Class Eight of the Cruiser/Racing Division.

Morgans Cloud , one of nine Bermuda entries, finished in first place in the Doublehanded Division Class Ten, only adding to the party atmosphere at the RBYC.

The boat, skippered by John Harries, led second-placed Mayflower by over seven hours on corrected time.

Nicholas Dill's Dillightful and Warren Brown's Tamarugo were among the last boats to arrive yesterday.

All 148 boats in the fleet were finally accounted for with the spotlight shifting today from sailing to other recreational pursuits such as golf and tennis.

Also on tap today will be the hearing looking into the protest launched by Longobarda skipper Frances Carter over the prickly issue concerning the change in rules which prevented sailboats in the Racing Division from winning the Lighthouse Trophy.

But even in victory Smith was handing out an olive branch to Racing Division skippers, while pointing out that even under the old rules Gaylark would have won the Lighthouse Trophy. He did acknowledge, however, that it still could have an affect on the final two Onion Patch races, scheduled for tomorrow.

Smith apologised to the skippers, whose biggest complaint was being told of the rules change only two weeks before the race.

"We very much apologise for that,'' Smith said. "That was a function not of the Cruising Club of America or the (Newport to Bermuda) race committee, this was a function of the US sailing owners' committee. They did not publish (the information) about who could sail, who could take the helm or whether professionals could be on board.

"The publication did not come out until mid-March and by that time we had our own decision-making process going and we could not send out that bulletin saying that we were going to have two trophies soon enough.

"Certainly we recognise the expectations that so many people had in the Racing Division, that they wanted to have a chance to get the Lighthouse Trophy which, of course, is the premier trophy certainly on the east coast and perhaps in the world.'' Several other boats were crowned champions of their respective classes including Essence in the Grande Voile Class One, while Conspiracy , Wonder , Challenge IV , Toscana , Loose Cannon , Froya , Gaylark and Gamelan were leaders in classes two through nine respectively. Halcyon was winner of the Doublehanded Division Class DH-10.

Smith had spent a large chunk of the last 24 hours worrying whether Gaylark would be able to hang on to the top prize.

"Last night (Tuesday) I came over here and the television screen had Gaylark up there at number one,'' he said. "That was pretty exciting but you have to wait for all the other guys to come in to make sure that they're handicap hasn't taken over and they win. This has happened to me before when I thought I won a class but came in second.'' Later he added: "We had a game plan and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I've found over the years that if you don't follow your game plan that's when you don't win.'' A TOUCH OF GLASS -- Gaylark owner and navigator Kaighn Smith, left, is congratulated by Royal Bermuda Yacht Club commodore Brian Billings yesterday while two members of the crew watch from behind.